Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-03
OUTSIDE WAKING.
A Sketch of Life and Death Among the
Vicious of New York.

lSpecis! Correspondence,
NEW York, Nov. .s.-ln Baxter Bend, the
very heart Of the Five Points. is flourishing
undertaker's shop. There is little or no style
about the place. The plate glass windows
and exquisite cabinet work which mark the
establishments of up town ''mortuary direc-
tors" are unknown here. But there are lots
of commercial grief, substantial, glarins,
and above all cheap. Pictures in which u
rotund female bends in manner unknown
to anatomy over weeping willow and a
cigar box like tomb decorate one wall On
another are assorted drawings for all faiths:
gaudy chromue Of saints holding CORY hearts
in their hands, wood cut reproductions Of
Dore, and even the queer banners used by
Chinese and other eastern races in decorating
4 death room. Large cases are packed with
collins, the dairer ones standing erect and
alone, the cheaper lying in nests of q half
dozen. Cofiins for SO, for S. for S5. and
even for g. In this district, where epiden-
les breed increasingly, death loses its terrors
and its paraphernalia are everywhere re-
gar,ied ordinary commodities. The little
sign, bargains in coffins, tells the life his
tory Of the neighbnrhooi in u manner
stronger than words.
Beneath the store Is half cellar, half
basement, the like of which can he found
nowhere outside the Five Points The
horrible marsh which once covered the few
acres where the tall tenements now stand
still shows lis existence in the mold il forms
below the street levels, in the ooze that
trickles through walls, and the fetid smell
with which 1t fills ali subterranean rooms
This basement Is the favorite place of the
denizens Of the district for outside wax
ing" l had often passed the place in the
evening and had heard the hum Of voices
and the mu-ky glare Of lamps streaming up
the stairway, but had given it no particular
thought The last time. however, il WAS long
after midnight Two tired policemen who
were chatting on the stf'et, and q trio Of
roysterers who appareI.tly preferred the side
walk and gutter to a civilized led. alone dis
turtei the solitude Of the neighborhooi- A.
l approached the place, two men and
three girls crossed over and went
down the stairs One man and one
woman were dressed in ordinary work
ing apparel The other man was attired
in fashy style, while the two remaining
girls wore very decollete and dirty silk
dresses with long trains. NV curiosity was
excited, and 80 | climbed down the steep,
filthy step. and found myself in the low saw
dust covered room that constitutes nearly all
the basement floor. 1t was crowded with
people who sat around the four sides, and in
the center, obst-urei by the throng, Law q
cheap coffin Of stained pine upon two carpen-
ters horses. In IT lay the body OF some dead
criminal Over the open top bent young
woman whose face. once handsome, was dis
figured by the marks of sin and alcohol In
3 corner If the room was keg OF beer on q
trestle, and couple more untapped beside it
on the door. In "A second corner. ON a table,
were bottles of raw spirits labeled whisky
and gin, and ut the head of the coffin, as if in
satire of its animate and inanilnate surround
ings, were two candies and well worn cruel
fix. man who seemed to lie bartender,
niourner and undertaken in one moved about
the place, alternately wiping a dirty face
with a still dirt,er handkerchief and serving
beer and Yet more fiery liquids to those pre-
sent. l asked him what the occasion was.
He removed a cigar from his lips and said:
What, this here affair." IL is a no wake
You see the fellow in the pine overcoat there
was one Of the boys He used to Ike a green
goods man, and then after that he worked
iiinfam. He WAS pinched by the police in
January on suspicion. They could not prove
anything, as we scared the complainant
away, but the judge sent him up to the island
anyway for sixty days. His family went
back on him and the ward detective made il
lively for him. He got sick and he had
knocked around too much. 50 he got worse
and worse, and died night before last His
family would not bury ham, and the church
would not touch him, because he was brought
up Catholic and he died a crook AMI
wouldn't let priest come hear him when he
turrei his toes up. 80 raised pool and
gave him this scndoff. We boys clipped in.
and all the saloons where We booze had to
come down with a couple Of dollars apiece
or keg Of beer. We pay the undertaken
for the box, the lights and the room rent,
bring our beer aud whisky, and do the whole
business without any priest or missionary q
nonsense.
Docs it often happen. Just yoI bet it
does. 1t happens here and at lot oi other
places | know in the neighborhood. There
are crooks and criminals in hard luck,
and girls who have bcen thrown out because
they could not pay their room rent. These
ms-ke the most of them. Then there are f,l-
Il VS. who live iii a single room or lodging
D. iuse, or in the ten cent beds. When they
,ie the landlord bounces the body to make
Dom for a new tenant. They've got to ;o to
Potter's Field or else depend on the boys
And then there are good many people who
live in two rooms and haven't the room to
have a wake III. They send the corpse around
here and have a good time.
"What does it cost! Well. it depends upon
the style. We pay the undertaken anywhere
from s. up for the coffin. and S:i for the rent
cf the cellar. The candles are usually thrown
In and the CruclfiX Is lent That ,rucifiY
here is a lucky one and we try to always
have it at our wakes There's black cruel.
fix know that brings bad luck every time it
Is used. Either the people get into a
fight, or the ccfiin is dumped or
something goes wrong Then the hearse
and carriage cost $40, and more carriages
s. or s. apiece and the grave S5 upward
This racket stands us in about 81, and its a
first class affair-somethinG We bows are
proud Of. II You want more style you can
hire professional mourners; We call them
.keeners' They are old Irish and Scotch
women, and sometimes English. who cry and
howl and sing and drink all night for dol
lar and their drinks"
Daylight was beginning 10 make the smoky
lamplight a ghastly yellow. The festivities
were at their height. The mourners stood
and sprawled about the room in all con-
ditions of intoNication. A few were SO over
come that they lay like logs upon the floor,
hardly distlnguishable III appearance from
the inmate Of the coffin 1t was with great
gasp of relief that l reached the street and
inhaled the cool, fresh air Of the early dawn.
WILLIAM +. s. FALEs
Few Pointers.
The recent statistics of the number of